May 14, 2007 4:42PM 

# Uncle Sam: Electrician 

By [Stephen Slivinski](https://www.cato.org/people/stephen-slivinski) 

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My [new Cato policy analysis ](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8230)goes into great detail about how the federal government uses your tax money to subsidize businesses. In fiscal 2006, the “corporate welfare state” cost $92 billion, all of which funded programs that provide unique benefits to particular companies or industries.

One of these programs is the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). A relic of the New Deal, the goal of the program was to electrify the countryside. Now that reading by candlelight in the boonies is a thing of the long forgotten past, the RUS has morphed into a fountain of cash for rural electricity co-ops.

As a [story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/13/AR2007051301105.html) on the front page of this morning’s *Washington Post* highlights, it’s always easier to create a program than to kill it:

> The key to the longevity of the Agriculture Department’s programs for rural utilities has been the \[electricity co-ops’\] powerful political voice. More than 30,000 members gave an average of $41 last year to the co-op association for political contributions. Given their geographic scope, the co-ops can mobilize letter-writing campaigns across a vast number of states and congressional districts.

To learn more about the corporate welfare budget generally, [tune in ](http://www.bloomberg.com/audioplayers/playr_owm.html?clipName=Bloomberg%20Live%20Radio&clip=http://www.bloomberg.com/streams/audio/radio_live.asx)to my live interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “On the Economy” today at 6:30 pm Eastern. A podcast about the corporate welfare state will be featured on the Cato website on Tuesday.

##### Related Tags 

[Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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